Last night's TV

A few years ago, an elderly lady called Jeanette Findon phoned the House of Commons. She wanted to speak to Michael Portillo about her son Gary. Gary, a school friend of Portillo, killed himself in 1969, just a few days before his 16th birthday.

Portillo not only met Jeanette and her husband Ronnie, but some time later he persuaded them to make a film about Gary. I don't think they will regret it for a minute. It is a lovely, lovely film - incredibly sad of course (who would have thought that a lump in the throat could be caused by Michael Portillo?), but also strangely uplifting.

Although Gary had been in the thoughts of Jeanette and Ronnie every day for nearly 40 years, they had not been able to talk about him - to each other, or to Gary's younger brother Andy. They simply had not been able to come to terms with his suicide, which hung over the family like a black cloud - even over Andy's two boys, Marc and Rob, who never even knew their uncle. A suicide affects a family for generations.

The film, as well as being an intelligent and moving picture of the devastation the suicide of a child can bring to a family, also appears to have helped Jeanette and Ronnie. With Portillo's help, Gary is sort of resurrected. His letters are read - including his suicide note. It is hard to know which is more choking, that or Gary's music which is brought back to life. Ronnie had thought that, in a rage of hurt, he'd thrown away the music his son had composed (the Findons are a family of talented musicians). But Jeanette finds it, hidden at the back of a cupboard. Gary's brother Andy plays it beautifully on the flute.

And they talk about him, for the first time - to each other, to his old teachers, to Michael, and to other old school friends: Clive Anderson and comedy producer Geoffrey Perkins (who, since filming, was himself killed in a traffic accident).

It is almost as if Jeanette and Ronnie are not just finally accepting Gary's death, but also that he existed in the first place. In some way, this film has given them back their son.